Once More Unto the Sky, Dear Friends
by DragonGirl3927
Summary: After encountering a magical phenomenon in a strange cave, the dragon riders find themselves fifteen again on the fateful night the village runt shot a Night Fury out of the sky. With all their triumphs and mistakes erased from time itself, there is only one thing they can possibly do, and go once more unto the sky.
1. Chapter 1

The sun was going down as the fight took a turn for the worse.

It had been four years since the defeat of Drago Bludvist and his bewilderbeast. Four years since Hiccup had become chief. The first two of those years had been prosperous. Hiccup and the gang had permanently moved back to Berk from Dragon's Edge to help with the rebuilding. It had gone well, with the largest setbacks coming from Ruffnut and Tuffnut, Loki's dedicates and masters of munitions. Fishlegs and Valka had set about integrating Drago's freed dragons into Berk's society, and the village had happily expanded, the new construction being overseen by Astrid. For a while, things were peaceful, and Snotlout found his position as Marshal to be largely ceremonial, as Berk rarely needed to be defended against anything more dangerous than the occasional pirate ship or pack of speed stingers. It was in this peace that Hiccup and Astrid had married two years earlier.

Unfortunately, this peace did not extend beyond the Archipelago. When new dragons began to appear on Berk, Hiccup and Fishlegs journeyed back to the Edge to consult their old Dragon Eye notes. They found the island base ransacked, the wild dragons either missing or dead. Scouting revealed that another dragon hunter had filled the vacuum created by the loss of Drago Bludvist and Viggo Grimborn, and the third war against dragon hunters began.

This war was not like the others. These dragon hunters had been expecting Berk to get involved, and had spent years preparing. True to the saying 'no good deed goes unpunished,' the Riders' teenhood refusal to kill came back to bite them as the hunters easily found recruits with experience fighting warriors on dragon back. This new enemy was skilled and prepared, and every single dragon the Riders managed to free brought them into mortal danger.

But Vikings rush in where angels fear to tread, and death is just an occupational hazard. These six dragon riders had gone to Hel and back and would never back down from what they knew was right. This brought them to their current battle, which was not going well.

The blood blended in with the crimson rays of the sun as it dripped into the sea. The riders had followed three hunter ships close to an island surrounded by sea stacks, and straight into an ambush. Unlike Viggo and his men, these hunters had no desire to take them alive. More than two dozen ballistae had been hidden among the sea stacks, and their overlapping fields of fire and the fact that they were defended by longbowmen made them extremely difficult to hit. Meatlug had managed to destroy two of them, but it had cost her. A thick bolt was embedded in one of her hind legs, and Fishlegs brought her to hover out of range.

The twins were attempting to dump Barf's heavy gas on a group of ballistae from a higher altitude. As the slowest dragon after Meatlug, and the least maneuverable, the Zippleback was unable to get in close.

"Come on Bud, we can do this," Hiccup muttered as he and Toothless lined up for another shot. Their long-range plasma blasts were the most effective, as they weren't in range long enough to hit before their target exploded. Toothless dropped with his signature shrieking whistle, hitting the ballista dead on and gliding out of range as he pulled out of the dive. "Yes!" Hiccup shouted as they turned back to the battle. That's when everything went wrong.

Astrid and Stormfly zipped past another sea-stack. "Spine Shot!" Astrid yelled, looking on in satisfaction as the blue Nadder's quills tore through the ballista's crew. Hiccup saw a hunter draw back his bow on a neighboring sea-stack.

"Astrid!" Hiccup shouted desperately. She turned at the sound, and the arrow sunk into her shoulder instead of her heart. She let out a sharp cry of pain and barely managed to stay in the saddle. "Fall back!" Hiccup yelled as Toothless used his last plasma blast on the hunters that had shot Astrid. "Everybody fall back!"

Stormfly managed to head out of range towards Fishlegs and Meatlug under the cover of the plasma blast's explosion. Unfortunately, this left Snotlout and Hookfang alone in the middle of the battle. Hookfang flamed up and roared, his evasive movements becoming frantic as all of the hunters focused on him and his rider. "HOOKFANG!" Snotlout screamed as he leapt from the saddle. The two-inch-wide ballista bolt that had been about to hit a gap in Hookfang's neck armor buried itself in the Jorgenson's stomach instead.

"NO!" Hiccup cried as he urged Toothless into a sharp dive. Hookfang tried to catch his rider, but was forced upwards by archers. The twins swooped in on Barf and Belch to protect him, yelling angrily as the sound of a Zippleback explosion rang across the water. The Night Fury leveled out a scant dozen feet above the water as Hiccup caught his cousin. Snotlout screamed in pain as the impact jostled the bolt that to Hiccup's horror went strait through him, the bloodied spear point extending about a foot out of his back. Trusting Toothless to steer them to safety, Hiccup let go of the saddle to arrange the shorter Viking into a less painful position. He wrapped an arm around his cousin's waist to hold him in place, sitting sideways across the saddle. Hearing him whimper in pain, Hiccup grabbed the bolt to keep it from moving. The wooden shaft was sticky with blood, and it took everything he had to keep his hands from shaking.

"It hurts," Snotlout sobbed, "it… it _hurts_." None of his usual bravado was present in his voice, and that scared Hiccup more than anything else.

"I've got you," Hiccup muttered softly. "You're going to be alright, just hold on." Then he turned his attention to Toothless. "We've got to find a place to land bud," he said, fear tightening his voice. Toothless warbled in concern and began to circle around to the far side of the island.

Hiccup looked over his shoulder to see the rest of the dragons and riders following him away from the battle site. Hookfang was right on their tail, his normally hooded eyes filled with worry and fear. Barf and Belch had taken a couple of arrows to the wings, and the twins were uncharacteristically quiet in their concern. Fishlegs was rubbing Meatlug's head reassuringly as she buzzed along tiredly. Astrid had her bad arm clutched tightly to her chest, but nodded reassuringly when Hiccup met her eyes.

Toothless let out a grunt, catching Hiccup's attention. Cut into the side of a sheer cliff, far enough from both the top and bottom to be nearly impossible to reach without wings, was a deep opening. "Good job bud," Hiccup muttered, tightening his grip on Snotlout as they maneuvered into the cave, the rest of the dragons following. The cavern was large and round, about the same size as the training arena back on Berk. Toothless touched down in the center of the circle, and Hiccup pulled his cousin off of the saddle and onto the floor as the rest of the dragons landed around them.

Hookfang pushed close, his noises of concern getting increasingly frantic as he examined the ballista bolt in his rider. "Hooky," Snotlout whispered, weakly raising a hand to rest on the Monstrous Nightmare's snout.

"Stormfly, give us some light," Astrid's voice echoed in the large cavernous space as her Nadder shot a magnesium blast at one of the many fire-bowls around the chamber. Carved channels full of oil led the fire around the cavern in a chain reaction, filling the large space with flickering light. The sudden brightness revealed thousands upon thousands of runes carved into the walls and floor, seeming to glow in the fire-light. Under normal circumstances, Hiccup and Fishlegs would have spent hours geeking out over it, but as it was they barely noticed.

"Oh, Thor," Fishlegs breathed as he scrambled over to kneel by his friends, even ignoring his beloved Meatlug in his horror.

"Fishlegs…" Hiccup said desperately, a question in his voice. He hoped with all his being that Fishlegs, kind, clever Fishlegs, would know some way to fix this, would be able to pull out just the right herb to keep Snotlout alive or spit out the name of an obscure dragon with healing abilities. But Fishlegs just shook his head, tears in his eyes and grief on his face, and moved to help Hiccup hold the bolt's weight off Snotlout's internal organs.

"Oh no… Snotlout…" Astrid put her good hand on Hiccup's shoulder for support as she lowered herself to her knees. She moved her hand to Snoutlout's face, gently wiping away his tears with her thumb.

"It hurts. It hurts so bad." Hiccup had never heard his cousin's voice sound so small. Hookfang rumbled as comfortingly as he could through his own despair. Astrid sobbed.

"But the six of us are supposed to be together forever," Ruffnut whispered, desperate denial and disbelief etched on her face. Hiccup blinked the tears out of his eyes so he could see the twins. They were both holding the hand that wasn't resting on Hookfang's snout. Ruff was running her free hand over their friend's leg, while Tuff clasped his shoulder. They both had tears running down their faces.

"Is there anything you want us to do?" Fishlegs asked gently from his place behind Snotlout. His side was pressed against Snotlout's back, and he was unsuccessfully trying to hold his friend's lifeblood in. The hot red liquid leaked between his fingers and fell to the glowing runes on floor.

"Stay," Snotlout croaked, his eyes flitting desperately from person to person. "Don't… don't leave me."

"Never," Hiccup stated with the strength and absolute certainty of a chief. He held his cousin tighter against his chest as his friends all voiced the same sentiment. Hookfang crooned reassuringly. Fishlegs pressed closer against his back and Astrid leaned in to press a kiss to his forehead. Ruffnut squeezed his hand, and Tuffnut tightened his grip on his shoulder and leaned in.

Behind them a couple of the dragons let out snarls of discontent, but none of the humans noticed.

Tuffnut forced a smile as tears continued to run down his face. "We've already stayed together through so much crazy stuff. Of course we're with you until the.." he swallowed down a sob, "until the very end."

Snotlout managed to give Tuff a small smile before his breathing picked up. His grip on the twin's hands and Hookfang's nose spike tightened. His gaze ran over each member of their weird little family before locking on Hiccup. The light of Odin's Fire illuminated his pale face as he took in one last deep breath and let it out slowly. Hiccup watched as the life left his eyes, and their usually bright blue became flat and empty.

Tuffnut stopped trying to hold it together and let out a loud wail before throwing himself at his sister. Ruffnut clung to her twin just as tightly as they both cried loudly. Hookfang raised his head from his rider's lap and roared to the heavens in grief. Fishlegs scrambled backwards, whimpering "nonono" under his breath. Astrid collapsed against his side with a sob.

Hiccup wrapped one arm around his wife's waist, the other still clutching his cousin's body to his chest. He squeezed his eyes shut tightly before turning his face to shout at the sky. "You take care of him Dad!" Then he turned and buried his face in Astrid's shoulder to cry.

He was quickly broken out of his grief by Fishlegs' worried voice. "Um, Hiccup? You might want to see this."

Hiccup looked over at Fishlegs. His eyes were wide as he stared around the cavern, which was now illuminated by the multicolored light of thousands of glowing runes. Hookfang was the only dragon not running around and roaring in a panic, as he was too lost in his grief to notice much of anything. Turning his eyes upward, Hiccup saw something that looked like Odin's Fire in a violent storm.

"What is going on here!?" He yelled in a panic, trying to push himself to his knees without loosening his grip on his cousin's body. The twins sprung apart and stared around in awed confusion, and Astrid let go of him to pull out an axe.

Before anyone could figure out what to do about the magical phenomenon suddenly surrounding them, a loud, indescribable sound echoed from the rocks. The glow of the runes increased in intensity, and the very fabric of reality seemed to warp. Then the storm of Odin's Fire descended. There was a flash of bright green light, and the Dragon Riders were then no more.


	2. Chapter 2

Hiccup gasped, disoriented. His eyes were shut against the bright light. His feet were dangling over open air, but he didn't feel the familiar vertigo of falling. The air smelled like smoke, and he could hear the crackling of fire and the muted grumbling of an angry crowd.

"Stop! Just… stop." Hiccup's eyes snapped open at the sound of a voice he thought he would never hear again. He looked into familiar green eyes in disbelief.

"Dad?" He whispered incredulity55. Stoick dropped him, and he almost fell as his left foot hit the ground. Something was wrong. Looking down, he saw that he had _two_ feet. He stared, but his fathers voice snapped his attention away as his confusion rose and threatened to turn into hysteria.

"Every time you step outside, disaster follows. Can you not see that I have bigger problems? Winter's almost here and I have an entire village to feed!" The large, red haired Viking glared down at his son.

Hiccup felt like he would be hurt if he wasn't in shock. He looked around the village as horror grew within him. It was exactly as it was before they'd made peace with the dragons. "What?" he said, horror and fear in his voice.

"Why can't you follow the simplest orders?" For a minute Hiccup thinks that he is just in a nightmare, reliving his failures and his father's disappointment back at a time when killing dragons was as honorable as it got. Then his eyes met Astrid's. He could see his own shock and confusion reflected back at him, but also a growing realization and determination.

"Get back to the house," Stoick barked, before turning to Gobber. "Make sure he gets there. I have his mess to clean up."

For a moment, Hiccup just stood there, staring at his father's retreating back. "Come on then," Gobber said. "Let's go."

Hiccup followed him along towards his house. He tried pinching himself, but the pain was real as ever. He took a deep breath and tried to think. If this wasn't a dream, then what was it? He doubted it was Valhalla. Except for Astrid, events were unfolding exactly the way he remembered them on the night he shot down Toothless. It was almost like he had gone back in ti-

His thought process slammed to a halt when his eyes landed on his cousin. Snotlout was on the edge of hyperventilating, hands running over his stomach. The twins must have spotted him at the same time as Hiccup, as in the next moment he was in the middle of a Thorston sandwich. He made no attempt to get them off, but his head turned up, and Hiccup met his eyes. They were filled with panic and confusion but were clear and alive. Alivealivealive.

Hiccup lunged toward his cousin, only to be stopped short by Gobber grabbing him by the scruff. Only his immense trust in and respect for Gobber stopped him from breaking his arm, as an obstacle between him and his cousin. His _alive_ cousin. Not a familiar stranger like his Dad, but the same friend who had bled out in his arms not ten minutes earlier.

"C'mon laddie, yer Dad said ye've gotta go back to the house," Gobber said as he began to haul Hiccup along. He wasn't quite sure what he would have done if Astrid hadn't appeared behind Snotlout and the twins. She mouthed the word _woods_ at him as she took Snotlout's hand to pull him and his attachees in that direction, waving Fishlegs on when he started to approach. As always, Astrid was quick to adapt to a strange situation and incredibly good under pressure. Hiccup suspected that his wife may have already figured out what was going on, and took a moment to thank the gods she was with him before nodding at her and turning to follow Gobber home.

"Yer awfully quiet," Gobber commented, and Hiccup could hear a bit of worry beneath his carefree tone. "Thinkin about what yer Dad said?"

"Something like that," Hiccup answered, most of his focus still on getting to his friends and figuring out what was going on.

Gobber shot him a concerned look as he started to go up the stairs to his house. "Hiccup," the one legged Viking started, putting a hand on the teenager's shoulder. "Ye just need ta stop tryin so hard ta be something that yer not."

Hiccup almost smirked at the irony. "I know Gobber, and I think things might be changing soon enough." He felt the blacksmith's worried gaze on his back as he slipped through the door into the house.

As soon as the door closed he was running through to the other side, hurrying out the back door and sprinting for the woods.

He tripped over his left foot, tumbling to the ground when it didn't meet the uneven forest floor in the same way as his prosthesis. He shoved himself back to his feet, ignoring his scraped palms as he stumbled on as quickly as he could. Soon he could hear his friends' voices in the distance and hurried towards them.

He found them in a clearing about a half mile from the edge of the forest. His cousin was sitting on a log with the twins pressed so close against his sides they were practically in each other's laps. Fishlegs was kneeling behind Snotlout frantically searching his back for a gaping wound that miraculously did not exist. Snotlout himself seemed to be in shock, and Astrid was trying to talk him out of a panic attack, even as her own voice was edged with hysteria.

Hiccup threw himself into the huddle, adding his own chant of "alive, alive, alive," to the chaotic cacophony his friends were already producing. His sudden addition to the group was enough to cause them to topple over to the forest floor. Fishlegs' panicked babbling cut off with an _oof_ as he found himself on the bottom of the pile. Astrid let out a yelp as she was dragged down to land sprawled atop Hiccup and Ruff, and Tuff cut off his mumblings about draugr, which were very much at odds with the way he clutched his 'undead' friend. Ruffnut's sob turned into a startled laugh, and soon they were all laughing hysterically as they held each other in bruising grips.

When they regained control they sat up, staying in their little huddle as they fought to catch their breaths. For a minute they just sat there, eyes darting from person to person. It was Snotlout who finally broke the silence.

"I don't understand. I thought I …" he took a deep, shuddering breath before continuing, his voice firmer than before. "I died. I know I did, I _felt_ it. So how did … what …" he trailed off, looking lost as he gestured around at the whole situation.

"After you, uh, left," Tuff started, clearly hesitant to use the d-word in regards to his miraculously still alive friend, "the whole cave started glowing. And there were these weird runes, and there was this noise like WHOOoooorsHreeEEEEEEOOOoOOOoOO. Then Odin's Fire was everywhere, and then we woke up here."

Snotlout blinked in confusion. "What?" he asked, still staring at Tuffnut in bafflement.

"I have an idea of what might be going on," Astrid cut in before Tuffnut could attempt to elaborate. Seeing that she had everyone's attention, she took a deep, slightly shaky breath. Hiccup reached over and took her hand. She shot him a half smile before her face retook its grim, uncertain cast.

"I think we might have gone back in time."

There was a beat of silence.

"Ha ha, good one Astrid. But no really, how'd we get here?" Ruffnut laughed, the mix of mirth and curiosity finally taking away the last of her tears. Hiccup, however, wasn't listening. He was studying his wife, cataloging small details he hadn't noticed in his relief and disorientation.

She whirled on Ruffnut. "I'm serious Ruff, it's the only thing that makes sense. Did you not see Berk?" Her hair was up in a style she hadn't used since they were seventeen, a spiked circuit rather than a braid holding it back and her bangs hiding half of her face. Her face was rounder than he was used to, cheeks a little too chubby and ears sticking out a little too far. She was wearing a tight green shirt that had been destroyed shortly before the establishment of the Dragon Academy, and it showed how much skinnier than usual she was.

"Pull the other one, its got bells on it," Snotlout snorted. Hiccup's attention snapped over to his cousin. He was still pale, and had his arms crossed protectively over his stomach, but he was quickly regaining his usual bravado. However, that wasn't what held Hiccup's notice. The same familiar differences he had noticed on Astrid covered Snotlout. The armor he had taken to habitably wearing since his appointment as Marshal was gone, and the scruffy mustache was nowhere to be seen. He looked softer than usual, as if a decade of weapon training and battle experience had been peeled away. He also seemed to be significantly taller.

Hiccup then looked down at his own twig arms and realized that, no, Snotlout was just as short as ever. It was Hiccup who was the wrong size. His gaze traveled down his fishbone body to his feet. Both of them. He wiggled his toes. All ten of them.

"I'm just saying," Snotlout continued as Astrid shot him a glare, "how likely is it that we managed to accidently break the laws of the universe! We probably just got hit with some weird dragon hunter drugs or something, and now we're having freaky hallucinations."

"No," Hiccup broke in before Astrid could respond. "No. It can't be a hallucination. It's too detailed. It's too real. I'd forgotten," he paused, and gestured at his left foot. "I'd forgotten what it felt like. And there are too many little details, stuff that I doubt my mind could conjure up. It's exactly like it was when we were fifteen. I mean, just look at us!" He gestured around at the rest of the group.

Everyone's eyes bounced around from person to person. Tuffnut ran his fingers through his hair with a frown; they slid through easily, as it was devoid of its usual dreads.

"Oh Thor," Fishlegs breathed, and his voice cracked and ended in a squeak. This seemed to be the last piece of evidence anybody needed, and acceptance filled their faces.

Tuffnut broke the silence. "Okay, so we're back in time. What do we do? I say that we use our future knowledge to convince everyone that we have been granted _mystical powers_," he wiggled his fingers mystically, "and convince them to bring us tribute!"

"A wonderful plan, my brother Nut," Ruffnut responded. "I mean, we could try and stay inconspicuous in an attempt to preserve the timestream or something, but your plan sounds waaay more fun. Besides, I don't even remember what I was doing at this time yesterday, let alone today ten years ago."

"Toothless," Hiccup whispered, and then he was running.

He could hear his friends cursing as they scrambled to their feet behind him, but he didn't slow down. It had just hit him that this was the night that he'd shot Toothless down, brought his best friend crashing out of the sky. His entire focus was on getting to his dragon.

Unfortunately, it didn't take long before his left leg decided to once more remind him that it still existed by bringing him tumbling down. Luckily, the fact that he was still a fishbone meant that Astrid had easily caught up with him, and she managed to catch him before he hit the ground.

"Hiccup wait," she said, grabbing his shoulders as he started to scramble to his feet.

"I can't. Astrid," he grunted as she forcefully kept him from taking off again. "I just shot him down, he's all alone out there, tied up. He's probably scared. I have to get to him."

"I know Hiccup. Trust me, I know. But you have to think. What if he didn't come back with us? What if," she took a deep breath, and seemed to be fighting back tears. "What if they don't remember us?"

"No," Hiccup whispered.

"My Meatlug," Fishlegs said at the same time.

Snotlout lost what little color he'd managed to regain. "No. No! You're wrong. Hookfang has to be back. I can't …" Fishlegs, who looked seconds away from bursting into tears, grabbed one of his violently shaking hands.

Tuffnut glanced around at his friends before looking down at his sister, who was clutching his hand with white knuckles. He forced a smile and said, "Hey, it's not like we haven't done this before, right?" His grin became a bit more genuine as he got more into what he was saying. "Like, imagine Gobber's face when he sends us in to fight Barf and Belch, and we totally just train them instead. It'll be awesome!"

Ruffnut sniffed and wiped her eyes, then forcefully thrust off her melancholy. She shoved her way in between Snotlout and Fishlegs, throwing an arm around each of them. "Yeah, but that's because we're the best bro! Snot's just worried that he's going to be on fire again, and _not_ in a good way."

A strangled laugh forced its way out of Snotlout's throat. "Shut up, Ruffnut," he muttered.

Astrid took Hiccup's face in her hands. "Trust me, Hiccup, I want them to be back just as much as you do. The thought of looking into Stormfly's eyes and not seeing my best friend looking back at me, it's," she looked down to blink the tears out of her eyes. Then something fierce overtook her expression, and the fire that made her _Astrid_ was back in her gaze. "But she'd still be Stormfly. Tuff's right Hiccup. Whether or not he remembers you, it's still Toothless out there. But you have to be careful. Approach him the same way you did last time. If he remembers you, great, but if he doesn't you'll have to treat him like a wild dragon, and it could take a little while to gain his trust for the second time."

"What about the rest of the dragons?" Fishlegs broke in. "They'd still be in the training arena. If they did come back with us, my Meatlug is going to be so worried right now."

"We should stick to the script until tomorrow," Astrid said. She pushed on when Fishlegs looked like he was about to object. "I know, we all want to check on them now, but we don't want to bring too much attention to ourselves right now. Everybody's leaving to look for the nest, and it will be easier to figure out what to do without our parents looking over our shoulders."

"Right," Snotlout muttered. He took a deep breath and straitened his shoulders, as if he was physically pulling himself back together. "Right," he said again, firmer. Then Snotlout their frightened friend was gone, and Snotlout the Marshal stood in his place. "We'll sneak in to check on them tonight, but leave them in the arena until everybody leaves. Does anyone remember how long the meeting will last?"

"I remember Dad coming back from the Great Hall about an hour or so after they finished putting out all the fires from Hiccup's accidental destructive rampage, which was totally awesome by the way," said Tuffnut. "He had to pick up his hammer, because they wanted to set sail first thing tomorrow, and a couple of the boats needed to be patched up."

"I was helping put out fires," Astrid chimed in. "The moon was just starting to set when I went home, and everyone was heading toward the Great Hall at about the same time."

Snotlout glanced up at the moon. "Okay, we've probably got a little over an hour. That'll be plenty of time for Hiccup to free Toothless and for us to get back to Berk. The biggest problem is going to be the guards. There won't be any actually up by the arena, but they'll see us if we go for the bridge."

"We can get in from the back," Hiccup proposed. "Most of those cliffs aren't that high, and we can use the rope from the bolas to rappel down the rest."

There were nods all around.

"Okay then," Hiccup said, and once more set out in the direction of his dragon. He could hear the footsteps of his friends behind him, and Astrid took his hand. His gut was still churning with worry over what he would find. A repeat of the war with dragons was something strait out of his worst nightmares, and he wasn't sure he could handle looking into his best friend's eyes and seeing nothing but hate and fear.

His steps faltered as he caught sight of the broken trees that marked Toothless' less than gentle landing. He felt his breath catch in his throat, and panic began to claw its way up his spine.

Then Astrid kissed him. It was short, and chaste, and slightly awkward in their younger bodies, but he could feel all the love she had for him. She smiled down at him, and simply said, "It'll be all right," before stepping away.

He glanced around at his friends. The twins grinned at him, Fishlegs gave him an encouraging nod, and Snotlout shot him a thumbs up. His spirit bolstered by his wife's encouragement, and surrounded by the support of his shield brethren, Hiccup found his courage. Whether or not Toothless remembered him, he was still his best friend, and they would fly together again. And he would always, _always_, have his friends.

Hiccup nodded decisively, straitened his shoulders, and marched down to meet the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself.


	3. Chapter 3

Naturally, he tripped and fell on his face as soon as he got close. "Of course," he muttered as he pushed himself back up on his hands and knees. He heard a muffled burst of draconic laughter.

Hiccup froze. "Toothless?" he whispered, slowly raising his head to meet glowing green eyes across the small clearing. They were filled with confusion, but more importantly, they contained recognition. Hiccup slumped with relief.

Toothless warbled questioningly as well as he could with his muzzle bound and tried to wiggle into a better position to see his rider. Hiccup jerked upright with a start as he remembered their current situation. "Let me get you out of there bud," he said as he pulled out a knife he hadn't seen in a decade and quickly set to work on the ropes.

The second he was free Toothless pounced on his rider. Hiccup landed on his back with an _oof_, then raised his arms to protect his face from the dragon's relentless assault.

"Come on, you know that doesn't wash out," he complained. He was far too relieved to feel any real disgust as he wiped off the worst of the dragon drool. He then threw his arms around his dragon's neck. "I was worried about you too bud."

They separated, and Hiccup clumsily pushed himself to his feet. This caught Toothless' attention, and he sniffed at the strange flesh and blood left foot in confusion. "Yeah, its been a weird kind of night," Hiccup said, before guilt flooded him. He glanced over at Toothless' tail, the left fin conspicuous in its absence. The knowledge that he was responsible for maiming his best friend had always weighed heavily on him, but never more than now, reliving the very night he'd shot the dragon down. "I'm sorry. It's not fair that I got my leg back, but you still lost your fin." He swallowed heavily as he felt tears fill his eyes. "I did this. I'm so sorry, Toothless."

Toothless tilted his head and gazed up at his rider. His eyes narrowed, and he let out an annoyed grumble. He then wacked the boy over the head with his remaining tail fin. Toothless never could stand his rider when he wallowed in guilt.

Hiccup rubbed the back of his skull with a huff and a wry smile. "I know, I know," he muttered, well familiar with the dragon's opinions. "I really am sorry though bud."

Toothless licked his hand to remind him that all had been forgiven years ago. Then, as if to demonstrate that the matter was closed, he turned his back on the crash site and began to retrace Hiccup's steps. Hiccup smiled softly and rubbed a tear off his cheek. They didn't deserve dragons.

He followed the Night Fury through the woods, trying not to trip and fall yet again. He could hear the murmur of his friends' voices as they approached. Suddenly Toothless froze, his ears standing strait up. Hiccup nearly walked into him. "Bud?" he asked in concern.

The dragon's eyes widened, the pupils narrowing in shock before blowing wide in hopeful surprise. His gaze shifted over to his rider, and he let out a questioning warble. Hiccup tilted his head, then finally realized what had caught Toothless' attention.

"… just saying that he'll never go for it. You know how my Dad is." Snotlout's voice drifted back through the trees. Hiccup ignored Fishlegs' reply in favor of grinning at his dragon.

"Yeah, weird night remember. He's alive," Hiccup said happily. Toothless gave him a gummy smile before trotting off quickly towards the gang. Hiccup smiled after the dragon for a minute, before realizing that the rest of the gang didn't know Toothless had come back with them. He rushed after the dragon as the quiet conversation was replaced with startled curses and yelps of surprise.

Hiccup burst into the clearing after his dragon. Astrid and Fishlegs were on the ground, having clearly been knocked over by the half-ton flying reptile. "So, Toothless is back," Hiccup said sheepishly.

"Gee, I hadn't noticed," Astrid responded sarcastically as she pushed herself to her feet.

Toothless was circling Snotlout like an excited puppy, letting out confused but delighted croons. "Hey T," Snotlout said. The Night Fury gave another croon before nosing him in the stomach. "Yeah, I'm ok, see?" He scratched behind one of Toothless' ear flaps and the dragon began to purr happily. "It'll take more than a few arrows to get rid of the Snot-man," Snotlout boasted.

Hiccup thought that he really didn't like that joke, but he was too relieved that his cousin was acting like his usual self to be upset.

"Ugh, you forgot the rope, didn't you?" Ruffnut asked. Hiccup, still in a haze of relief over his dragon remembering him, looked at her blankly. "You know, the rope from the bolas, so that we can climb down to where the _rest_ of our dragons are?"

"Um, yeah, sorry," Hiccup said sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.

"Don't worry, I've got it," Tuffnut said cheerfully as he hopped down into the long crash mark and jogged back towards the bolas. It wasn't far, barely out of earshot, and he was back in less than two minutes with the awkward bundle of tangled rope. By that time Toothless had calmed down and they started walking towards the back of the arena.

The group was far less apprehensive than before, figuring that if Toothless had come back the other dragons probably had as well. Hiccup and Fishlegs flanked Tuffnut and attempted to untangle the ropes as they walked with mixed results. As the trees started to thin out Astrid glanced at the moon.

"Looks about right," she whispered. "The meeting should start any minute now."

Hiccup nodded. They crept to the edge of the first cliff and Hiccup tied a rope around a tree. There were three cliffs they would need to rappel down, each between five and fifteen feet. Although the main cliff was much higher, they could avoid it by climbing down to the rock spur used to support the side platform. From there it was an easy climb up onto the platform and down through the arena's chain net.

Hiccup gave the rope an experimental tug, then glanced over the cliff to judge the distance. He scanned the visible part of the arena one more time before stepping off the cliff and walking down backwards. He turned back to his friends and nodded. Tuffnut tossed him the rest of the rope and began his own descent. Toothless peeked over the edge and crooned questioningly.

"No, bud, stay up there," Hiccup whispered. "I haven't built your tail yet and I'm not sure if you can get up these cliffs on your own."

Toothless gave an unhappy snort, but nodded and settled down to wait. Hiccup quickly began untangling the next length of rope, then looked around for a good place to secure it.

"Here," Astrid whispered, gesturing to a spot where a spur of rock had split away from the cliff. He nodded and tossed her the other end of the rope, starting down the second cliff as soon as it was secure. He heard Fishlegs finish the first climb as he made his way down.

As soon as his feet hit the ground he dropped to his stomach and crawled to the edge of the last cliff. He knew that his caution was probably completely unnecessary. In fact, with how lax Berk's current security was against anything but dragons they most likely could have marched right across the bridge singing drinking songs without being noticed. However, a decade of habit born of near-death experiences is hard to ignore, and Hiccup was in no mood to take chances.

He carefully scanned the arena for any signs of movement, but it was deserted. "Clear," he called out, just barely loud enough to be heard on top of the preceding cliff. As Ruffnut started to make her way down, Hiccup slowed his breathing and listened. He could hear something coming from the arena, and although his gut said it wasn't threatening it still gave him a bad feeling. He could hardly make it out, muffled as it was by thick stone walls, but there was something incredibly desolate about it. It was also extremely familiar, even though he was sure he had never heard that exact sound before in his life.

He glanced up at the top cliff. Toothless' eyes reflected the moonlight as he gazed down worriedly at his rider, refusing to let him out of his sight. That's when it hit him.

"Snotlout," he hissed urgently, spinning around to look at the rope. Tuffnut had been about to follow his sister, but quickly passed the rope to the Jorgenson when he saw Hiccup's worried face.

"What is it?" Ruffnut asked as Snotlout quickly began his descent. Hiccup tapped his ear and pointed to the arena. Her eyebrows furrowed, and she opened her mouth to ask again, but at that moment Snotlout arrived on their ledge.

"Hookfang," he whispered as soon as he rounded the corner into earshot. The last cliff was only a little over six feet high, so Snotlout was able to grab the edge and dangle over before dropping to the ground. He sprinted over to the wooden pillar holding up platform and began hauling himself up. Hiccup and Ruffnut quickly followed him.

When they reached the base of the platform, Ruff used her hands to make a step and give Hiccup a boost. Once he'd scrambled to the top he turned to grab her hand and help haul her up. By that time Snotlout was in the arena, slamming his fists on the door to Hookfang's cage desperately. Hiccup and Ruffnut used the arena's chains to lower themselves into the pit. The agonized screeches were much clearer down here, and Hiccup ran for the lever to open the cages as soon as his feet touched the ground.

"That's a Monstrous Nightmare's mourning call," Fishlegs panted from where he had just made it to the top of the platform. "I heard it once when dragon trappers killed a nest full of hatchlings."

Hiccup yanked the lever with all the strength in his scrawny body. "Snotlout, get back!" he yelled as the heavy log began to lift free of the doors. Snotlout obeyed from ingrained instinct more than conscious thought, and the heavy wooden doors just missed him as they slammed open. Fifteen hundred pounds of flaming reptile burst out, wings spread wide and head raised to the sky, screaming his grief to the world.

"Hookfang!" Snotlout cried, running the short distance to his dragon. The instant he touched Hookfang's scales, his fire went out and the screeching roar caught in his throat. "Hookfang," Snotlout said again, and this time it came out as a sob.

The Monstrous Nightmare let out a low, desperate keen and fell back down onto his forelegs. Snotlout threw his arms around the base of the dragon's long, snake-like neck. Hookfang twisted his head around and bumped his snout against Snotlout's back. He made small, distressed croons as he franticly searched his rider for the gaping wound that had killed him.

"I'm okay, Hooky," Snotlout said. Hookfang fell onto his side so he could grab his rider with his talons. He nuzzled against Snotlout's side and the boy switched his death grip from the dragon's neck to his face. "I'm alive Fangster. I'm here. It's going to be okay." He buried his face in the warm red scales as he began to cry in earnest. "It's going to be okay."

Hookfang wrapped his wings around his rider, hiding him from view. Whatever else Snotlout said was muffled by the leathery appendages. As Hookfang curled into a tighter ball around his miraculously alive friend, Hiccup realized that he was witnessing an incredibly private moment between dragon and rider and quickly spun around.

Fishlegs was standing behind him, wiping a tear off his cheek as he watched the uncharacteristic display from the two most bullheaded members of their little flock. Astrid and the twins were still at the edge of the arena, all three wearing soft expressions. Astrid met his eyes and shook herself. She nudged the twins, and all three began making their way over.

Hiccup put a hand on Fishlegs' shoulder. "Come on," he said, softly enough not to disturb the pair in the center of the arena. "Let's go get Meatlug."

Fishlegs nodded and scurried over to the Gronkle cage as Hiccup pulled another lever. "Oh, my Princess," Fishlegs cried happily as Meatlug pressed into his bear hug. She chuffed at him affectionately when he knelt down to check her previously injured leg.

Hiccup grinned at them before releasing the Zippleback, who immediately charged the twins. "Barf!" "Belch!" they yelled at the same time, right before they were slammed to the ground by their excited dragon. They each clung laughing to their respective head as they were lifted into the air.

Hiccup pulled the final lever and made his way over to his wife and her dragon. "Stormfly," She said joyfully, wrapping her arms around the Nadder's neck. Stormfly purred at her happily before nosing her shoulder with a worried chirp. "Don't worry about me, girl. I'm fine. It's like that arrow was never even there," she said reassuringly.

She smiled down at Hiccup when he wrapped an arm around her waist, leaning against him as she continued to pet her dragon. "We're all here," she said contentedly, smiling at Stormfly. "But, Hiccup, this is really happening. We are fifteen again. We're going to need a plan."

He looked out at his friends. Fishlegs stood up and rested a hand against Meatlug's flank. The twins crossed their arms in sync and grinned at him. Snotlout, who had poked his head out of his Hookfang cocoon, tipped his helmet cockily despite his red rimmed eyes.

For a moment he felt vertigo at the double image before him. He saw his fifteen-year-old friends, inexperienced with dragons and inexperienced with life, completely clueless but always willing to take on the world. He also saw the battle veterans, older than their twenty-five years, who had flown through the gates of Hel. Then the dual pictures settled, and they were just his friends, willing to stand by him through anything and preparing for another adventure.

"Well, you heard her," Hiccup said, tightening his arm around Astrid's waist. "We are in the center of one of the biggest dragon killing tribes in the Archipelago. We have no idea how we got here, no allies, and none of our usual gear."

"Just like old times," Tuff muttered. Ruff snickered, and Fishlegs let out a sigh of resignation.

Hiccup grinned. Just like old times indeed. "So," he asked, "any ideas?"


	4. Chapter 4

"Snotlout that is a terrible plan," Hiccup said, giving his cousin a look.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. It's a great plan," Snotlout said, linking his hands behind his head and leaning back against Hookfang's side. The Monstrous Nightmare had calmed enough to let Snotlout out of the safety of his wings, and he was now sitting tucked in the joint between neck and wing with the dragon's head in his lap and a talon wrapped around his ankle. If the two were being a bit more cuddly than usual, no one chose to comment on it.

"No one in their right mind would go along with it," Hiccup argued.

"It's Gobber," Snotlout returned, which Hiccup had to admit was an excellent point.

"Even Gobber has his limits," he argued anyway.

"From the center of the earth blasted forth the hammerhead yak _riding_ the hammerhead whale," Snotlout quoted in his best Gobber impression. Hookfang chortled, and Hiccup sighed because that was another excellent argument.

"For all of Gobber's Gobberness, he's still one of the best dragon killers alive. If we just walk up to him and tell him we've decided to start riding them instead he'll lock us out of dragon training for our own good," Hiccup refuted.

"So don't tell him, show him. Wait until he siccs Meatlug on us like the absolute maniac he is, and then train her," Snotlout said. "Wasn't that your original plan with Hookfang anyways?"

"Wait," Tuffnut said from atop the Zippleback. "Didn't that plan fail horribly and end with the Red Death destroying Berk's entire fleet?"

"Yes Tuffnut, it did, which is exactly why I don't want to try it again!"

"Gobber's not Stoick though," Fishlegs piped up. He winced when he realized what he said. "Not that Stoick's not a good chief or anything, it's just that he can be a little… um,"

"Yes, I know Fishlegs," Hiccup cut in. "But what's to say Gobber will react any differently from my Dad?"

"Um, because we totally outnumber him six to one," Ruff opinioned.

"Eleven to one if you count the dragons," Tuff added.

"We'd be trying to convince him to get along with the dragons, not trying to blow him to Vallhalla," Hiccup argued.

"They have a point," Astrid said slowly from her perch on one of the arena chains. Hiccup shot her an incredulous glance. "Think about it. If Stoick hadn't interrupted, you would have been able to train Hookfang just fine, and he wouldn't have gone on a rampage. Then, after Toothless rescued you, you could have gotten the situation back under control if the arena hadn't filled up with angry Vikings out for dragon blood."

"Even if Gobber does start to react like Stoick did, you'll still be able to show him dragons aren't mindless killers. Meatlug's already trained, and she's hardly going to go on a destructive rampage if Gobber yells at her," Fishlegs expanded on Astrid's point. "Even if he decides to come after you with an axe, Snotlout and I can hold him back. He won't be expecting it, not from the two of us, and he won't hurt us either."

"At the very least, we can turn it into a jailbreak," Ruffnut said. "If everything does go belly up despite our foreknowledge,"

"Which our foreknowledge tells us it eventually will," Tuffnut added.

"We'll have our dragons in the woods where we can get to them easily. With our luck Krogan will ride in on an army of Screaming Deaths while the dragons are locked up and unable to help us."

"Is this really the best plan we can come up with, with all our experience and knowledge of the future?" Hiccup asked somewhat desperately.

"Yep!" Astrid chirped with a smirk.

"Uh-huh," Ruffnut confirmed.

"You know it," Tuffnut agreed with a finger snap.

"It's a great plan!" Snotlout defended.

"Most of the time we were just winging it anyway," Fishlegs said sheepishly.

"Nobody has any other ideas?" Hiccup asked pleadingly. "Any at all? The floor is wide open."

"Meeting's breaking up," Astrid called down from the top of the net. She flipped off her perch and landed in a crouch. "Lights just started heading out from the great hall. We need to go."

"So I guess that is our plan," Hiccup muttered in resignation as his friends turned all their attention to their dragons. "Woop de doo."

"Barf, Belch, stay there," Tuffnut ordered, holding his hands out in front of him as the Zippleback peered out of their pen.

"And don't blow anything up without us," Ruffnut continued before they shut the heavy wooden doors.

Astrid gave Stormfly one last scratch behind her frill. "I'll see you tomorrow girl," she said with a smile, gently closing the door as Stormfly settled down for the night.

"Don't worry Princess, Daddy will be back tomorrow. You be good for Hiccup when he trains you again, okay girl? I'll bring you a granite snack," Fishlegs cooed at his dragon. Meatlug rumbled softly in agreement and nuzzled him one more time before lumbering calmly back into her cage.

Snotlout was having significantly more trouble. "You need to stay here Hookfang," the Jorgenson explained. Hookfang growled in disagreement and tightened the grip his talons had around his rider's waist. "This is Berk before we started training dragons Fangster. If they see you, they'll kill you." This argument did not satisfy the Monstrous Nightmare, and he roared angrily and slapped his tail against the ground.

"Hookfang," Hiccup started, walking up to the pair. Hookfang snarled at him and pressed closer to Snotlout possessively. "Hey Hookfang, it's me, you know I'm not going to hurt him." The firedrake deflated and allowed Hiccup to lay a hand on his snout. He put his other hand protectively on his cousin's shoulder. "You know we won't let anything happen to him." The Nightmare stared into his eyes judgingly for a moment before slumping with dejected acceptance.

"Don't worry Hooky, I'll be fine," Snotlout said, scratching the base of the dragon's horns. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Hookfang nuzzled him one last time before slowly walking back into his cage. His eyes remained locked on his rider until the doors shut. "Come on," Hiccup said quietly, gently tugging his cousin away from the Nightmare's pen. Snotlout shot the closed doors a long look before hauling himself up and out of the arena.

Astrid reached down a hand to help pull Hiccup out of the stone pit. He smiled at her gratefully once he found his balance on the platform. It was a quick climb back up the cliffs and into the forest, although not as quick as it would have normally been. Hiccup shared a miserable look with Fishlegs. While the husky Viking was still much stronger than Hiccup at fifteen, he had never been interested in physical improvement until his life had started depending on it.

"Hey bud," Hiccup greeted when he reached the top. Toothless gave a happy warble and nuzzled his rider affectionately. Hiccup threw his arms around the scaly neck in a quick hug. "Listen Toothless, I need you to go wait in the cove." Toothless snorted in disagreement. "I know you don't like it, but we need to stay undercover, at least for tonight. That means no dragons in the village." The Night Fury roared unhappily but nodded in agreement. "Thanks bud, I'll see you tomorrow alright?" Toothless licked his face before sulking off deeper into the woods.

The teens circled the village to a less suspicious place to enter. They slipped towards their houses, unnoticed in the hustle and bustle of exhausted Vikings preparing for a morning voyage.

"Here's our house," Tuffnut whispered.

"See you guys at dragon training tomorrow," Ruffnut finished, giving Snotlout a relatively gentle punch in the shoulder while her brother yanked him into a quick hug. Then they both slipped away to sneak home.

"Are you sure you'll be alright?" Hiccup asked as the Jorgenson house came into sight. Astrid and Fishlegs also looked worried, and all three of them were walking just a little too close. Snotlout gave them an exasperated look.

"I am going to my house to sleep," he said slowly and sarcastically. "I think I'll be fine."

"If you're sure," Astrid said. Fishlegs picked him up in a rib cracking hug before they let him go to climb up the side of the house. They all watched until he disappeared through his upstairs window.

"I'd better go," Fishlegs said. "My mom will be worried if I'm not home when she gets back."

"See you Fishlegs," Hiccup called as his friend disappeared around the corner. He took Astrid's hand as they slipped through the shadows. They stopped behind her house.

"Hiccup," she said quietly, worry filling her voice. "Your dad.." She trailed off.

"Yeah," he replied, voice heavy with emotion. It had been four years since he had seen his father. In that time, he had mourned, had shouted his grief to the sky and cried quietly by the night's fire. He had felt his loss as he shouldered the burden of chief and grieved his absence as his father even more. But he had also learned acceptance, and the wounds of loss had faded to scars and painful thoughts to bittersweet memories. Now, having seen Stoick alive once again, it felt as if those scars had been torn open. He wanted nothing more than to run into his father's arms as though he were truly the young teen he appeared to be.

Unfortunately, unlike Toothless this Stoick would not be the same man he remembered. This was not the father who encouraged his son's ideas as he sought to change the world, nor was he the chief who defended his tribe and their dragons until the very end. He now knew that his father had always loved him, even back when he had been a rather destructive disappointment. However, that did not change the fact that he had been a disappointment and a disgrace to all things Viking, and it had nearly taken his death for his father to stop seeing him as such.

"I'll be fine," he said softly. "It'll be hard seeing him again, especially now, but I'll manage. He's just going to put me in dragon training and go off on his search. There won't be any confrontations until he gets back. Right now…" he sighed, "it'll just be good to see him alive, even if he doesn't know _me_."

Astrid nodded and pulled him into a tight hug. "I love you," she said like a promise.

"I love you too," he replied, voice rough. He pulled back enough to press his lips to hers. For a long minute they stood there, locked in a gentle kiss, saying everything the other needed to know without a word. He pulled back and stared into her eyes.

She smiled at him. "I'll see you in the morning," she said, taking a half step back.

"Mi'lady," he responded, grabbing her hand and pressing a kiss to her knuckles before stepping away. She gracefully climbed the side of her house and rolled through her bedroom window. Hiccup took a deep breath and marched home to face his father.

This time he didn't try to sneak his way into his bedroom. He walked up to his the fire and his father with all the confidence he could muster. "Dad," he said quietly.

"Son," Stoick responded, rising to his feet. "I've got something to tell you." Hearing his voice again after all these years hurt, but in a good way. Hiccup studied his father as he towered over him expectantly. He was so familiar it ached, from his eyes, the same color as Hiccup's own, to his stance, proud and chiefly. He blinked in surprise when he noticed that there wasn't yet any white in his beard.

Stoick shifted slightly, put off by his son's silence. Usually the ever curious and hyper Hiccup would have been babbling questions about just what he had to tell him. "You get your wish," the larger Viking finally continued. "Dragon training. You start in the morning." Hiccup nodded solemnly. "You'll need this," Stoick added, handing Hiccup his axe.

"Dad," Hiccup said quietly, studying the weapon in his hands. There was a permanent bloodstain on the blade of the axe head. "I'm never going to be a dragon killer."

"Sure you will," Stoick refuted.

"I really doubt it," Hiccup argued.

"Once you kill your first dragon it'll all make sense, you'll see. Then you'll really be one of us," Stoick responded earnestly.

Hiccup smiled in bitter amusement. "Well, maybe I'll kill one," he offered, thoughts drifting to the Red Death. "But I'll never be the dragon slayer you want me to be."

"Just wait until you make your first kill. We can talk again then," Stoick said knowingly, expecting the first taste of dragon blood to turn his son into a proper Viking, as it had been for generations.

"I'll hold you to that," Hiccup answered, still wearing his bitter half smile. Thoughts of his father after the Red Death were warring with the memories of his short disownment when Toothless was revealed. It was all he could do not to cry.

Stoick nodded decisively. He was glad his son was going to at least try to act more like a proper Viking. He was a bit weirded out by his radical shift in attitude, but refused to show it, and forcefully brushed it off as the impact of the night's importance.

"Train hard," he advised. "I'll be back. Probably." With that oh so very reassuring sediment, Stoick marched out the door to begin preparing for his dragon hunt.

"And I'll be here. Maybe," Hiccup said, in an echo of a past life. He let out a shaky breath and wiped the tears out of his eyes before making his slow way up the stairs to his room. He grabbed one of the many notebooks scattered around his childhood room and flipped to a blank page. He nearly finished a complete tailfin schematic before his emotions had settled enough to try to go to sleep. He made one last note in the margins to collect some of Toothless' shed scales before closing the notebook and blowing out the candle.

Hiccup woke up in a panic, a sob caught in his throat. He thrashed around, desperately reaching out for something that wasn't there. His hand hit the candle and he scrambled to light it. He stared down at his shaking hands in the flickering light of the small flame. No blood.

His breathing slowed down as he stared down at his hands. Long thin fingers. Freckles. Boney wrists. Not a speck of Snotlout's blood in sight.

He flopped back down as it all came back to him. They had time traveled. Snotlout was alive, and everyone was safe in their own houses.

But what if they weren't? What if the time travel was the dream? He cast his eyes around the room. It was definitely his childhood bedroom. Most of those messy drawings of dragon killing machines has long been destroyed. That shirt hadn't fit in years. Toothless' bed was missing. He looked down at his fifteen-year-old self. He was definitely fifteen. He was short and scrawny, missing several scars and his wedding band, and most noticeably in possession of two feet.

The heavy feeling of fear and horror refused to go away. Hiccup shot a mournful look at the empty other half of the bed. He dearly wished his wife were here. Astrid would tell him he was being ridiculous.

He lay there for another minute before sighing in resignation and reaching for his shoes. He quickly got dressed and scrambled down the stairs, thankful that the village was all but deserted as the majority of the Vikings gathered at the docks.

He still moved as stealthily as possible as he approached his cousin's house. Snotlout would tease him so much if he woke him up. He was just going to peek in, assure himself he wasn't dead, and then go back to bed. He owed it to Hookfang after all, didn't he promise the dragon his rider would be alright?

Wholeheartedly ignoring the fact that he was just making excuses for his own paranoia, Hiccup grabbed the window ledge and hauled himself up high enough to peek into his cousin's bedroom. He barely managed to catch himself from falling right back down and off the roof when he saw that the room was empty.

He scrambled down with as much coordination as he could muster through his panic. He was about to go wake up the rest of the riders when he noticed light coming from Fishlegs' window next door. He climbed awkwardly up yet another roof and felt his panic fade to relief.

"H'cup," Fishlegs slurred sleepily at him. Both he and Snotlout were sitting on the floor leaning back against Fishlegs' bed. Snotlout looked up from his mug of tea as Hiccup thumped painfully onto the floor.

"You okay?" Hiccup asked his cousin as he made his way over. He clasped the shoulder not being used as a pillow and sat down next to him.

"I'm fine," Snotlout said, tightening his grip on his mug. Hiccup gave him a look. "It's stupid," he tried to insist. "It's just, with the dying," he trailed off.

"Not dying 'gain," the mostly asleep Ingerman muttered. He patted Snotlout's knee uncoordinatedly. "Not gunna let you."

"He's right," Hiccup said. His voice was filled with absolute surety, backed up by the stubborn, unbending strength of a Viking chief. "It doesn't matter what happens, I don't care how much we have to change the timeline, we are not going to let that happen again."

"I know you won't," he said quietly. "Not if you can stop it anyways. It's just," he sighed. He reached over Fishlegs to put the mug on the bedside table, then looked down as he twisted his hands in his lap anxiously. "When I died, everything went dark, and I was trying," he let out a little gasp as he tried not to cry. "I was trying to hold on to you guys, but I could feel myself slipping away. And when I woke up, it was dark, and I was alone, and…"

Hiccup threw his arms around him and squeezed as hard as he could. Fishlegs did the same on his other side, and Snotlout let out a squeak as his ribs were crushed. "We're here. We're right here," Hiccup whispered, on the verge of tears himself.

Fishlegs nodded fervently. "Always," he added.

"Yeah," Snotlout said tightly. He took a couple of deep breaths and his tense muscles relaxed. "Yeah," he said again sounding more like his old self. He tried to wiggle back to where he had been sitting against the bed, then squirmed more insistently when he found he couldn't move. "Uh, guys?"

They both blushed and let him go. Fishlegs ran a hand awkwardly through his hair, and Hiccup cleared his throat. All three of them did their best to pretend their manliness was still completely intact.

"Okay, that's enough feelings for one day," Snotlout stated with a clap of his hands. Fishlegs, sensing that the important parts of the conversation were over, put his head back on Snotlout's shoulder and went back to sleep. "So," he continued, shooting Hiccup a mischievous look. "You and Astrid. Now that you're both fifteen again, how is it going to work? What with the you know…" he waggled his eyebrows suggestively while making lewd hand gestures.

"Snotlout!" Hiccup hissed in horrified mortification while elbowing his cousin in the side. Snotlout sniggered smugly as he shifted into a more comfortable position to go to sleep. Hiccup huffed and looked out the window as Snotlout's snickers faded and he joined Fishlegs in slumber.

He watched the stars for a while as his friends slept. The candle had burned low and he was about to fall asleep as well when the stars were blocked by a familiar form. "Astrid," he whispered with a soft smile as she slipped gracefully through the window. His smile fell when he saw her red rimmed eyes.

"Hiccup," she whispered back, coming over to sit next to him. She wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug and he hugged her back just as tightly for a minute before she pulled away.

"Astrid what's wrong?" he asked as she leaned over to gently grab Snotlout's wrist. She let out a shaky sigh when her fingers found his pulse and she confirmed that he was not a corpse. She carefully put his hand back on his lap before turning back to Hiccup, and he was shocked to see tears running down her face.

"It's my fault," she sobbed. "It's my fault he got killed."

"What, no," Hiccup muttered, holding her tightly while she cried into his chest. "no, no, no, it wasn't your fault. How could it have been your fault?"

"I left his wing," she explained, voice thick with her tears. "I left his wing and he and Hookfang were all alone in the middle of all of them."

"Astrid, you were shot," he whispered gently, rubbing her back.

"Not bad enough that I couldn't have covered their retreat," she argued. "I should have stayed."

"And if you had maybe everyone would have gotten out of there alive, or maybe you would have died instead, or maybe neither of you would have made it. We can't know Astrid. It was a battle. It was dangerous, and chaotic, and we were ridiculously outnumbered. We can't know," he whispered, looking into her eyes, begging her to listen.

She nodded, but her gaze slipped back over to their sleeping friend. "Still.." she whispered, uncertainty in her voice.

"Then talk to him," Hiccup said softly. "I doubt he'll blame you. Just wait until tomorrow's craziness is over and talk to him."

"Yeah, I'll do that," she said softly. Her sobs had faded into the occasional hiccup, and she wiped the tears off her cheeks.

"And Astrid," Hiccup whispered, putting his hand on her cheek. "I love you."

"I love you too," she whispered back, and she kissed him. It was chaste and gentle, more about reassurance than passion. When they pulled apart she seemed more centered than before, and she smiled at him as she shifted to lay with her head in his lap. She put an arm around his waist and he rested a hand on her head and ran his fingers through her hair. She hummed in contentment as she buried her face in his stomach and drifted off to sleep.

Hiccup felt himself relax. He yawned, and felt his eyelids grow heavy as he listened to the gentle breathing of his wife and his friends. Just as he was about to fall asleep he heard noise outside the window.

He looked up to see Ruff and Tuff somehow manage to tumble through the window while wrestling without making any noise or spilling the bowl Ruffnut was carrying. "Hey," Hiccup greeted with a yawn. "Did you guys have nightmares too?"

"No, definitely not," Tuffnut said overly defensively.

"We're just here to prank Snotlout," Ruffnut continued, holding up the bowl which he could now see contained fireplace ash. "He thought he could hide from us in here, but no one can escape the dedicates of Loki that easily."

"We decided that he must be missing his ridiculous mustache, so we're going to draw him another one," Tuffnut explained grandly. Hiccup thought that that seemed like a very mild prank for the twins.

They both kneeled down in front of Snotlout and set to work. Hiccup thought that there was significantly more touching involved than was strictly necessary to draw a mustache.

"Well, if everybody else is sleeping here I guess we should too, purely for emotional support of course," Tuff said.

"Plus, it's so much effort to walk all the way back to our house," Ruff whined.

"Very true my sister Nut," Tuff agreed.

Hiccup smiled to himself as the twins settled down and he finally drifted off into a dreamless sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

"Fishlegs!" Mrs. Ingerman's voice echoed up the stairs. "Fishlegs it's time for breakfast!"

Hiccup startled awake and tried to jump to his feet, only to trip over one of his similarly startled friends and fall back to the floor. He heard muttered curses from Snotlout and Ruffnut as they all tried to untangle themselves. Fishlegs managed to wiggle out from the bottom of the pile and blinked in sleepy surprise at the mass of teenagers on his floor.

"Fishlegs, are you up? Your father and I are leaving soon, and you start dragon training today!" A bit of panic entered Fishlegs' expression as his mother's footsteps began to make their way up the stairs. Snotlout dived out the window, and Astrid vaulted out on his heels. They both shed their momentum with graceful, well-practiced rolls and sprinted off towards their respective houses. The twins jumped in sync, landing shoulder-to-shoulder in battle ready crouches. Hiccup tripped on the windowsill, fell sideways, and crashed into the twins, bringing both of them to the ground with him.

Hiccup felt a Thorston grab each arm, and then he was lifted up and dropped on his feet. He took off in the direction of the Chief's hut as the duo wove off towards their own home. As he ran, he giggled to himself at the absurdity of the situation. Yesterday he had been the Chief of a dragon riding Berk at war, his friends as his closest advisors. They had flown together against impossible odds, had sat beside each other at strategy meetings and marched as one through places of nightmarish legend. Now, they were scrambling off home to hide their super-secret sleepover from Fishlegs' Mom.

The sun was nearing its peak as Hiccup made his way to the arena. He had taken advantage of Gobber's absence from the forge and spent the morning creating the base structure of Toothless' tail fin. A basket on his back contained the carefully crafted metal pieces, as well as the leather and sewing supplies needed to create a saddle and finish the fin. It also held enough fish to tide over a hungry Night Fury over until they had time for a proper hunt.

Aside from the basket of supplies, he carried only a small knife on his belt. It was the very same blade that had spent a decade on the bottom of a cove's lake in another life. The oversized axe had been left behind. He knew he would not need it.

He found his friends waiting for him on the bridge to the arena. They slipped automatically into V formation as they made their way to the great stone pit. Memories of the first time they had walked this path were prominent. Today so long ago, six children had begun training for the day their parent's war would become theirs. So it was that despite this being the least dangerous adventure they'd had in years, it was a solemn, serious group that marched to the gate of the kill ring.

Gobber was waiting for them. He looked surprised when Hiccup was the first one into the tunnel, but shrugged it off as he glanced at the rest of the teens. He pulled the heavy metal door up and turned to address the class.

"Welcome to dragon training," Gobber announced grandly as he gestured into the arena. He stepped aside to let the teenagers pass.

Hiccup led his friends into the pit. He felt his spine stiffen as they moved to stand shoulder to shoulder before Meatlug's pen. This was not the dragon training arena where he had spent the best years of his childhood learning to fly alongside his friends. The night before he had been too lost in the shock of time travel and the relief of having Snotlout alive and the dragons with them to pay much attention to the state of the arena itself. He struggled to keep his eyes locked forward, but he couldn't help noticing details that made his stomach turn.

He saw the scorched silhouettes of Vikings on the walls. There were bloodstains splattered over the entire arena floor, some as small as his finger nail, others too large to have been made by a human even if every drop was spilled. Nadder spikes were scattered around haphazardly. Weapon racks sat about prominently, waiting to supply a fresh batch of dragon slayers. The severed tip of a Monstrous Nightmare's tail was caught in one of the joints where the chain roof of the kill ring met its stone walls. Hiccup forced his attention to the doors of Meatlug's cage. They were solid wood, with a crack barely big enough to slip a finger through between them and the floor. In Hiccup's time, the doors were metal bars, so the dragons could interact with their riders and get fresh air and light.

Hiccup glanced at his shield mates. All of them were tense, angry and upset at the state of what they had thought of as their place for so many years. Stnotlout was pale, his face a mask, and Astrid's hands were clenched into shaking fists. Hiccup suddenly realized that this would be even more jarring for those two than the rest of them. When it became apparent that the second dragon hunter war would be significantly more brutal than the first, Hiccup decided that more Vikings needed to learn how to fly in order to protect Berk. As the two most skilled dragon riding warriors in the Barbaric Archipelago, Astrid and Snotlout were the perfect candidates to instruct the Berk Guard in the ways of winged warfare. They had spent a significant part of the past two years in this very arena, training warriors how to ride dragons to protect dragons.

Hiccup brushed the back of his hand lightly against the knuckles of Astrid's clenched fist. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Tuffnut shift almost imperceptibly closer to Snotlout. He heard his wife let out a held breath beside him, before she lifted her chin and straitened her spine.

"No turning back," she said in a reflection of the past. Both the words and the steely determination within them were the same, but they set an opposite course. The rest of the gang nodded solemnly, jaws clenched and eyes locked on their dragons' pens.

"Okay then," Gobber said, coming to stand in front of the teens. He sounded unsure, glancing over the teens in some confusion. Hiccup figured that he was expecting the immature rowdiness of his first life rather than the tense silence of the now.

"Let's get started," Gobber continued, getting back into his spiel as he shook off his bafflement. "As you know, the recruit who does best will win the honor of killing his first dragon in front of the entire village."

A small, hurt and angry noise forced itself through Snotlout's clenched teeth. After all, it was his Hookfang queued in for that 'honor.' Gobber shot Snotlout a look at that. He then seemed a bit lost when the group failed to show any kind of excitement or anticipation at the prospect of gladiator style dragon slaying. As a man used to dealing with the violent and emotional fire of angry Vikings, it must have been unnerving to face the uniformly emotionless expressions and cold steely eyes of the gang.

"Behind these doors are just a few of the many species you will learn to fight," the blacksmith continued, attempting to regain his footing. "The Deadly Nadder,"

Stormfly squawked and nudged at the doors of her pen. Astrid's lip twitched in what might have become a smile if she wasn't quite so on edge.

"The Hideous Zippleback,"

The twins' stares became even more intense, and didn't move on from the doors hiding their other two fourths.

"The Monstrous Nightmare,"

Hookfang could clearly smell his rider and was impatiently shoving against the gate.

"The Terrible Terror,"

Hiccup made a note to himself to grab the Terror before they left. If things went South, it wouldn't be right to leave the little dragon to suffer the wrath of angry Vikings.

"and… the Gronkle."

Fishlegs shifted slightly forward in anticipation. Hiccup glanced at his friends out of the corner of his eye. They all exchanged a hardly noticeable nod as Gobber placed his flesh hand on the lever to open the iron bound doors.

"I believe in learning on the job," Gobber announced with a smirk before shoving the lever down. The riders immediately dashed into their pre-planned positions. Meatlug calmly pushed open the heavy doors and buzzed toward Hiccup, the only time-traveler who hadn't moved.

"Today is about surviva…" Gobber started, before his smug drawl turned to panic. "Hiccup!" he shouted as he noticed that the smallest trainee was just standing in front of the approaching dragon. He began to charge forward but was stopped by Snotlout grabbing his shoulder.

"Hey, wait," Snotlout said. The riders had decided that Snotlout objecting to Gobber's 'learning on the job' mentality was the perfect excuse for his interference. At the same time, Fishlegs moved to stand in between the one-legged dragon slayer and his beloved dragon. While Gobber was detaching himself from the Jorgenson, Hiccup held out his hand. Meatlug stopped in front of him and nuzzled his hand happily before gently setting down on the stone floor.

Hiccup heard a thump and a yelp as he brought his other hand up to scratch behind Meatlug's ears. He turned just in time to see Fishlegs 'accidently' step into the path of Gobber's charge and shoulder him back a couple of paces. He frowned when he saw Snotlout picking himself up with a wince near the entrance of Meatlug's pen, and it became obvious that the thump was his cousin slamming into the wall.

"Hiccup! Get away from that beast!" Gobber shouted as he prepared to resume his twice interrupted rescue mission.

"Gobber stop," Hiccup said, and despite his mid-puberty vocal cords it was the Chief's voice that spoke. Hiccup forced himself to weaken his voice as much as he could to avoid giving away that he was not the Hiccup Gobber knew. "They aren't what we think they are. She won't hurt me."

For a moment Gobber paused, thrown by the calm confidence and authority that Hiccup had been unable to completely hide. Then Meatlug shuffled closer to make it easier for Hiccup to scratch the scales on the side of her neck, and Gobber made to take another step forward. Before he could, Astrid was there.

"Wait," she said, grabbing his wrist. "I think he's right. Listen to him."

"Fishlegs," Hiccup called before Gobber could attempt to throw Astrid into a wall as well. He knew that wouldn't end well for his old mentor. Fishlegs hurried over to be reunited with his Meatlug. Hiccup took his larger hand and placed it on the Gronkle's snout, then took a couple steps back.

"Hi girl," Fishlegs said happily as he ran his hands over the dragon's face. Meatlug chuffed in delight and nuzzled against her rider's chest. Fishlegs wrapped his arms around her in a hug. "Oh, I love you too Princess."

"Wha…" Gobber tried to ask, but trailed off into stunned silence when the Gronkle's deadly, mace like tail began to wiggle like that of an excited puppy.

"I don't think that this war is their fault Gobber," Hiccup answered anyway. "I believe that they're more than mindless killers. We could have peace."

Gobber would have normally scoffed at such a notion, but he was too busy staring at the spectacle of a dragon rolling onto her back for belly rubs. Fishlegs was happy to oblige.

Fishlegs seemed to remember his role in convincing Gobber that the dragons were good while maintaining the illusion that this was all new to him. "She's amazing," he said. "I think I'll call her Meatlug. Do you like that girl?" Meatlug gently licked his hand. Gobber was staring mesmerized as the husky boy's hand came within inches of the dragon's incredibly strong jaw and jagged teeth.

"Okay, so we're riding dragons instead of killing them now. Cool. My turn!" Snotlout said as he marched off to the Monstrous Nightmare cage. Ruffnut shot him a thumbs up and pulled the lever to release the firedrake.

"What!" Gobber exclaimed in shocked panic as the roaring Nightmare burst into the arena and charged.

Hookfang skidded to a halt right in front of his rider. He brought his enormous head down and grabbed the top half of the stocky Viking. "Hookfang!" Snotlout shrieked in outrage as he was hoisted into the air.

Gobber let out a cry of murderous rage and charged, only to trip over a waiting Tuffnut. Hiccup sighed. He now sorely regretted letting Snotlout go second. He should have known this would happen.

Hookfang tossed his rider in the air and caught him with his snout. "Hooky," Snotlout said happily, his previous outrage forgotten as he wrapped his arms around the dragon's face in a hug. Hookfang let out a rumbling purr as he lowered the teenager back to the ground.

Gobber pushed himself to his feet and stared at the burly teen in shock. "How are ye not dead?!"

"We haven't figured it out yet," Snotlout answered, more focused on peeling a loose scale off of Hookfang's snout then on the current situation. Astrid flicked a pebble at his head, and he looked up with a glare when it pinged off his helmet. He caught sight of Gobber's disbelieving face and remembered the role he was supposed to be playing. "Ohhh… you mean the dragon. Well, uh, you see, I figured if Hiccup and Fishface could do it I could too. And Fangster's a Monstrous Nightmare, so he's the best, obviously. So now we're best friends." Gobber sputtered incoherently. Snotlout hugged Hookfang's neck defensively. "He's a good dragon." Hookfang glared at Gobber protectively and puffed smoke out of his nostrils.

"I'll take the Nadder," Astrid cut in before the ship wreck that was Snotfang's diplomacy skills could continue. She marched confidently across the arena to stand before the doors to Stormfly's cage.

This time, Gobber only managed to get out a weak "but.." before Ruffnut pulled the lever.

Astrid cut off anything else the blacksmith might have said as she and her dragon began circling each other. "Stormfly. I'll call you Stormfly." She held out her hand. Stormfly lowered her snout to rest against Astrid's palm. Astrid smiled before stepping forward to rest her forehead against the base of Stormfly's frill. She closed her eyes for a moment, and some of the tension bled out of her shoulders. Then she straitened and turned to face Gobber, who Hiccup nudged closer.

"Be careful lassie, that beastie's dangerous," Gobber warned, eying Stormfly cautiously. Stormfly snorted and stepped closer to her rider. She rested her chin on Astrid's shoulder and tilted her head to eye Gobber back.

"Of course she is. So are we," Astrid said. "All three of us are warriors. That doesn't mean we have to be enemies."

She turned her attention back to the birdlike dragon. "Look at her. A Nadder can hit a fly off a yak's tail at 50 yards. Her fire burns the hottest of all the dragons, and she can fly as fast as the Northern wind before a storm. Everything about her is built for speed and efficiency, and yet look at her! She's as beautiful as she is deadly." Stormfly preened at the praise, and Astrid smiled up at her, disguising her affection as awe for Gobber's sake.

"She sounds a lot like you m'lady," Hiccup said with a smile.

Astrid grinned back at him. "I'd love to agree with you, but I'm afraid that would make me sound too much like Snotlout."

"Hey!" Snotlout protested from halfway across the arena. Gobber was staring at them in shock again, although this time Hiccup wasn't sure why.

"Well, I'd say it's a perfect match," Hiccup continued.

From behind them came the familiar sound of an explosion. "Zippleback baby!" Tuffnut shouted gleefully.

Astrid rolled her eyes. "Another perfect match," she said.

Hiccup pulled a fish out of his backpack and slipped over to the Terror cage while Gobber was too distracted by the spectacle of the twins playing with Barf and Belch to notice. He quietly pulled the lever and gently tapped the door to get the miniature dragon's attention. It burst out with a growl. "Hey, hey, it's okay," Hiccup said softly. The Terror stopped it's charge but continued to eye him warily. "I'm not going to hurt you."

Behind him, Gobber finally recovered his voice and began to incredulously question the twins. "So you two want to make friends with the Zippleback?"

Hiccup knelt down in front of the Terror, who he now recognized as Sharpshot. "Hey buddy, do you want some fish? I bet they don't feed you guys the good stuff in here." Sharpshot still looked wary, but he shuffled closer to sniff at the fish.

"Well, yeah. Belch here is great," Tuffnut answered.

Sharpshot darted his head forward to snatch the fish out of Hiccup's hand. He gulped it down, then sniffed curiously at Hiccup's fingers.

"This is Barf. He spews gas. Blows stuff up. You know, cool dragon stuff," Ruffnut said.

The Terror allowed Hiccup to touch the side of his head. He ran his fingers over the leathery ridges running down his back. The tiny dragon let out a little chirp and moved closer.

"I'm so glad they're my dragon," Tuff said dreamily.

Sharpshot started to purr and climbed into Hiccup's lap. Hiccup grinned down at him. Terrible Terrors are incredibly social creatures that always travel in packs. As such they're the easiest dragons to train, always happy to make a new friend.

"What are you talking about, they're clearly _my_ dragon!" Ruff refuted angrily.

Hiccup gently picked up the little dragon as a full-blown twin fight erupted across the arena. "You want to come back to the cove with us little guy?" The Terror gave a crooning trill and nuzzled up against Hiccup's neck. The scrawny teen figured he must be lonely from spending so much time in his isolated pen.

Hiccup stood up and turned around. Ruff and Tuff were yelling and swinging fists at each other but were being held apart by their dragon. Barf and Belch each had a twin by the back of their vest, and were holding them off the ground and as far away from each other as their necks could stretch. If nothing else, Gobber would at least get to see a dragon playing peace-maker.

No longer needing a distraction, Hiccup decided to cut in. "Same dragon guys," he called as he made his way back to the group.

"Oh yeah," Ruffnut said.

"Forgot about that," Tuffnut added. They both twisted around to climb onto their dragon's necks and sat there as peacefully as the two of them ever did anything.

"You see Gobber?" Hiccup asked, coming to stand in front of his mentor. "Everything we know about these guys, is wrong." Hiccup desperately hoped that Gobber would accept this. For all of the teens' earlier ribbing, Gobber had been the only one to believe in him throughout much of his childhood. It had been Gobber who took him on as an apprentice when the whole village thought he was useless. It had been Gobber who taught him the blacksmithing skills he used to build Toothless' prosthetic tailfin, and it had been Gobber who helped him learn the ways of a Chief after his father's death.

Gobber stared at the Terrible Terror purring like a cat in Hiccups arms. His eyes swept around the arena and the dragons happily allowing Vikings to climb on their backs. Then, with the air of a man making a profound statement said, "I need a drink."

While that was not quite what Hiccup was hoping for, it was better than screaming and axes, so he decided he'd take it. "Alright. Are we still meeting for training tomorrow, or…" Hiccup let his eyes roam meaningfully over his friends and their dragons as he trailed off.

"Yes, same time tomorrow," Gobber said, still sounding a little dazed.

Hiccup made his way over to Astrid and Stormfly as Snotlout began talking. "Okay, you go have your drink, have fun. We'll just take these bad boys for a test ride while you're gone."

Gobber's eyes widened in realization when he realized that Fishlegs had opened the main arena gate while he'd been distracted with Astrid and the twins. "Wait, What? No," he protested, but Hookfang was already in the air.

"See ya!" Snotlout shouted out as he and his dragon made their escape.

"Wooohooo!" Ruffnut yelled as she and her brother zoomed past.

"To freedom!" Tuffnut cried at the same time.

Fishlegs realized that all his friends were leaving, stopped feeding Meatlug the pebbles he had stuffed in his pockets. "Hey guys, wait for me!" Meatlug made her way out to the sky far more sedately than her flock mates.

Astrid had pulled Hiccup up behind her on Stormfly in the commotion. Hiccup used one arm to hold Sharpshot against his chest and wrapped the other around his wife's waist. Gobber came running towards them. "Hiccup," he yelled, waving his arm in the air.

Hiccup purposefully misunderstood and let go of Astrid to wave back. "Bye Gobber, see you tomorrow!" Stormfly charged out the tunnel, and Hiccup barely managed to regain his hold on Astrid before they were going vertical. He couldn't help but laugh in delight as Berk shrunk behind them and they glided in the freedom of the sky.

AN: Hello! I just wanted to thank everyone for the wonderful reviews, they really made my day and encouraged my writing. I also wanted to apologize for how long it to get out, I ran out of pre-written chapters, and didn't have much time to write between finals, moving back to my hometown for the summer, and taking a summer calculus class. I'll try to get the next one out faster, but I apologize if my updates are slower and a bit erratic.


	6. Chapter 6

As soon as they set down in the cove Toothless came bounding up to greet him. "Hey bud," Hiccup said, tumbling off Stormfly's back. Toothless darted forward and caught him with his head. Sharpshot squawked and flew off to perch in a nearby tree. Toothless warbled happily and nuzzled his rider as well as he could in their current position.

"I missed you too," Hiccup laughed. "Now put me down, I'm going to try and put your tail together." Toothless chirped and lowered the scrawny Viking to the ground, then bounded around in excitement as Hiccup made his way over to a convenient rock.

Fishlegs patted Meatlug, then made his way over to join his friend, stopping to pick up scales as he went. Meatlug shuffled over to Snotlout and Hookfang. The rest of the dragons had been content with a quick sniff and nuzzle the night before to assure themselves of Snotlout's survival. Meatlug, however, was a particularly gentle and caring soul, and had only gotten more kindhearted after she had laid a clutch and become a mother.

Hookfang growled at her when she got close, but she just chuffed at him softly and continued her approach. She sniffed Snotlout from boots to helmet, then circled him, eying him over the entire time.

"I'm fine," Snotlout said, shuffling awkwardly under the Gronkle's scrutiny. Meatlug crooned at him worriedly as she came around to stare into his eyes. "Really," Snotlout insisted, by this point exasperated with everybody's overprotective worry, but unwilling to snap at Meatlug and her earnest concern. The Gronkle gently nuzzled his cheek, then turned her attention to Hookfang.

Astrid gave Stormfly a quick hug and seemed to steel herself before marching over to her friend. "Snotlout can we talk?"

Snotlout looked bewildered and a bit wary at her sudden seriousness; not five minutes earlier they'd all been laughing and screaming in reckless happiness. "Uh, sure," he said, sounding unsure. With a firm nod, Astrid grabbed his wrist and began tugging him around to the other side of the lake.

Hookfang did not like that. The Monstrous Nightmare had been hovering anxiously over his rider and was not inclined to stop any time soon. As soon as Snotlout and Astrid got out of range of his wings the firedrake got up to follow them.

Meatlug stopped him with a chuff. Hookfang growled and made to ignore her, but she moved in front of him and chuffed again, pointedly. The Nightmare snarled at her angrily, then hissed when she didn't flinch back. Meatlug took a step closer, looked him in the eyes, and crooned.

Hookfang jerked back like he'd been struck, then flared out his wings and roared, lighting himself on fire. Fishlegs shot to his feet from where he'd been sitting on Hiccup's impromptu crafting rock, and the scrawny blacksmith barely managed to snag his wrist before he could throw himself between the two dragons. The burly scholar shot Hiccup an incredulous look, but reluctantly trusted their leader's instincts when he just shook his head.

Halfway around the lake Astrid and Snotlout both jumped and spun around at the sound of the Nightmare's roar. "Hooky?" Snotlout called out worriedly, taking a couple of steps back towards his dragon.

Hookfang's eyes flicked up towards his rider, but his attention was drawn back down to the Gronkle when she shuffled closer. He snarled and took a step back, then lashed his tail angrily when he realized he was backed against the side of the cove. Meatlug crooned again and got close enough that the heat from Hookfang's fire coat must have been uncomfortable, then laid down in the smoldering grass. Hookfang let out one last half-hearted snarl, but Meatlug only gave a soft, gentle huff. The Monstrous Nightmare let out a long whine as his fire coat went out, then buried his head against the Gronkle's flank.

"Oh," Fishlegs said softly, relaxing out of his tense and wary stance. Seeing that he wasn't going to try and interfere, Hiccup let go of his friend's arm. Across the lake, Hiccup could see Astrid and Snotlout slip out of their own battle-ready positions. The twins, who had jumped up at the commotion, went back to quietly conspiring under a tree.

"Poor Hookfang," Fishlegs muttered as he lowered himself back down onto the rock. The dragon in question had pressed himself against Meatlug's side. The Gronkle gave off the low rumbling sound that was her version of a purr. "We were all panicking so much, we still are a bit, but Hookfang's his _dragon_…" Fishlegs trailed off. Hiccup nodded in agreement and reached out to pull Toothless into a hug. The bond between dragon and rider was indescribably wonderful and sacred. Hiccup couldn't even imagine the pain of it breaking.

Hookfang's head snaked up and he looked over at his rider. Snotlout noticed and waved. Reassured, Hookfang buried his snout under the Gronkle's chin. Meatlug did her very best to drape one of her short, stubby wings over her larger friend.

Fishlegs let out a long breath and leaned down to pick up the leatherworking tools he'd dropped when he jumped to his feet. Hiccup let go of Toothless so he could continue to attach the metal ribs of the tailfin to the main control shaft. He wanted to have the fin's skeleton assembled before cutting the leather so he could triple check his measurements.

"We're going to need a plan," Fishlegs said grimly as he unrolled a sheet of sturdy hide.

"Well, I wanted to try and come up with one last night," Hiccup said flatly, "but I was overruled."

"You know that's not what I meant," Fishlegs said, but his lip twitched up in the barest hint of a smile, so Hiccup counted it as a success.

"Our first priority has to be the Red Death," Hiccup said as he laid the now assembled tailfin skeleton over his sketch on the leather. "There will never be peace between Vikings and dragons while she lives. Besides, a lot of our later problems are too far away to even think about tackling without the Edge." He smudged out a line a drew a new one a quarter inch further out, then leaned back to study his work.

"But not all of them," Fishlegs said darkly, eyes far away as he unconsciously rubbed his hand over his arm.

"No," Hiccup said, voice equally dark. "Not all of them." He turned away from the fin to meet his friend's eyes. "But they'll come to us. Until we start to interfere, they'll be predictable. And we'll be ready for them."

"Yeah," Fishlegs said. He took a deep breath to steady himself and chuckled. "The twins will be happy. You know how much they like traps."

Hiccup grinned. "They'll never know what hit them." The twins were a special kind of devious. No one the riders had ever fought could match the sheer chaos of their plots.

Hiccup went back to work on the tailfin while Fishlegs began to crush a handful of Night Fury scales into a fine powder.

They worked in silence for a few moments, Fishlegs fiddling nervously with the makeshift mortar and pestle while Hiccup carefully cut out the fin. Fishlegs kept his entire focus on his task until his current batch of scales had been reduced to a very, very fine powder. He stared blankly at the tools in his lap for a couple more heartbeats, before speaking rather suddenly as he turned back to Hiccup.

"He was dead." Realizing how blunt, unexpected, and generally awful that statement was, Fishlegs blushed and looked down to fiddle with the mortar and pestle before setting them aside. Hiccup put the tailfin down and moved to sit next to his friend, worry tightening his brow. "It just didn't hit me until now. I mean, yeah, I saw the wound, and knew he couldn't survive it, and then he st-stopped … he stopped breathing, but then everything got weird and five minutes later he was fine. We do that a lot you know, get captured or injured or lost or trapped, then barely escape because of some crazy weirdness. But this wasn't like that, he wasn't just hurt or a prisoner. He was … h-he was _gone_, j-just like…"

Fishlegs trailed off with a sob, and Hiccup wrapped his arms around him. The larger Viking buried his face in Hiccup's shoulder as he began to cry in earnest. Hiccup winced when he felt his ribs creak from Fishlegs' hug, but he made no move to push him away.

Hiccup looked up and met Tuffnut's worried eyes over Fishlegs' shoulder. The twins, now liberally smeared with dirt, had stopped messing about with their pile of sticks and stones when they noticed their friend's distress. They both frowned and tilted their heads in sync.

_Is he okay? Can we help?_

Hiccup shook his head and tightened his grip on Fishlegs' shoulders.

_I've got him._

They looked at each other, then turned back to him and nodded. Ruffnut tugged her brother's sleeve and the two went back to evilly shoving pebbles around on mounds of dirt.

Once Fishlegs' sobs began to subside, Hiccup pulled back enough to see his face. "They're back," he said. "They're all back. It's going to be okay."

"We'll make it okay," Fishlegs said with conviction and determination that would have surprised those that didn't know him well. "No matter what."

Hiccup nodded in solemn agreement. "No matter what."

The somber atmosphere was broken with by outraged yell. Apparently, Snotlout had said something Snotloutish, as Hiccup saw Astrid manage to punch the shorter Viking in the shoulder as he attempted to run away. Hiccup smiled, glad that everything was back to normal between the two. Yeah, they were going to be okay.

No matter what.

Snotlout let out a breath of relief when he realized he wasn't going to have to go break up a dragon fight without his fireproof pants. Hookfang gave him a worried look, so he wiggled his fingers in a wave. Reassured, Hookfang went back to cuddling with Meatlug.

Well, Fishlegs' girly dragon was cuddling. Hookfang was clearly doing something a lot like cuddling, but manlier and more warriorlike. Obviously.

Astrid pulled his attention away from the dragons with a tug at his sleeve. He tilted his head at her questioningly, but she shook her head and walked further around the lake. She looked worried and upset, and now he was getting worried because it took a _lot_ to properly worry Astrid. He looked around suspiciously, searching for dragon hunter assassins, Ragnarök, or mortally wounded friends. He couldn't find the threat. The birds were chirping, the twins were plotting, and the nerds were nerding. The only thing not normal for a dragon rider day at the cove was the not-cuddling going on with Hookfang and Meatlug. He turned back to Astrid, and she was giving him a look.

"What?" he asked. She stopped walking and took a deep breath, and Snotlout was horrified to see tears in her eyes. Astrid was the toughest of them all, she didn't cry. Whatever was going on, it was clearly beyond even a Screaming Death level threat.

"I'm sorry," she said roughly.

"What?" Snotlout asked again, baffled.

"I'm sorry," Astrid repeated. "I'm sorry I got you killed."

The memory of falling and pain, _painpainsomuchpain_, and darkness rose up unbidden, and Snotlout quickly shoved it back into a deep dark hole where it belonged. Then he processed what she said and was even more confused. How was that her fault, and what did it have to do with whatever horrible thing had made her cry?

He gave her another baffled look. "Dragon hunters got me killed."

She forcefully strangled a sob and dashed a tear off her cheek. Remembering one of only three times he'd seen her cry like this, without murderous rage behind it, he gave their friends and dragons another quick once over. Nobody was missing any limbs. Hiccup even had one extra.

"I should have stopped it," Astrid said.

Snotlout felt a sudden jolt of dread when he realized it was worse than dragon hunter assassins or a Screaming Death. It was _feelings_.

"How could you have stopped it? There were a ton of dragon hunters, and you were shot," he said.

"I shouldn't have left your wing," she answered.

Snotlout quickly realized that Astrid was not as good at ignoring any and all emotions as he was. It was just as well, as the thought of his friends doing that made Snotlout uncomfortable in a way he very firmly ignored. So he sighed, reached into the deep dark hole, and got very serious.

"Remember Gustav?" he asked. He didn't wait for an answer. "I hated that kid. Sent him to patrol an empty island. It was out of the way enough I wouldn't have to deal with him, and safe enough the distance wouldn't be a problem. Except it wasn't safe enough and he died."

"That wasn't your fault," Astrid argued. "If it hadn't been for that traitor…"

"I would have still been a horrible Marshal that sent one of his soldiers to an empty island in the middle of nowhere to get rid of him," Snotlout cut her off. "If it hadn't been for the dragon hunter ambush screwing up everything, you would have done nothing wrong."

"Snotlout," she said, and now she looked worried again, for a different reason. Worried about him.

"I'm fine," he said. "I'm better. I made myself be better. It's just," he shook his head, and looked at her. "Do you really think I'd blame you?"

She grabbed his hand and twisted their forearms against each other, pulling him into a warrior's embrace. She tilted her shoulders back to keep from stabbing him with the spikes on her shoulder guards, and he made sure not to hit her with his studded armguards as they pounded each other on the back. He took a minute to just exist there, pressed up against his shieldsister, and thought about all the horrible things that were but weren't anymore. He let the memory of dying, _painfeardark_, press against his skull, and reminded himself that he was alive now and it was okay.

Then he felt his eyes grow wet and remembered that he really hated feelings. So he loosened his grip on Astrid and got ready to run.

"So you know," he started, waggling his eyebrows preemptively as he had no intention of sticking around after he said his piece. "Actual fifteen-year-old me would have loved this, what with, you know…" and he shoved his chest against hers.

Although he started to run before she even processed what he said, he was still to slow to dodge her punch.

Gobber was not an idiot.

Having calmed his panic somewhat, Gobber continued to think over the surreal training session as he made his way through the Great Hall. There were inconsistencies there. Even if he ignored the entire part with the dragons, things didn't match up. He headed towards a somewhat secluded table in the corner of the Hall, stopping at the main bar to grab a mug of ale along the way.

"Hey Gobber, how did dragon training go?" Ak asked as he served himself a plate nearby.

Gobber grabbed a mug of ale, chugged the whole thing in one go, and slammed it back onto the counter.

"That bad huh," Ak said sympathetically. Gobber only grunted in response before grabbing a second mug and continuing on his way. He settled down in the corner of the Hall and cast his mind back to the events of a couple hours ago.

He'd known something was wrong from the second the trainees had entered the arena. Although Stoick might be too bullheaded to see it, Gobber had always known the other teens weren't kind to his apprentice. Hiccup had always possessed a nervous energy and used biting sarcasm as a shield, and it only got worse in the presence of his peers. The boy possessed no confidence, and his desperate attempts to prove himself had led to the near destruction of the village on more than one occasion.

Gobber had been surprised when Hiccup had been the first one into the arena, and at first he had assumed that the other teens had shoved him ahead so they could watch him get thrown around by a dragon. However, that idea had been thrown on its head when the others showed up right behind hiccup, marching in formation of all things. And if that wasn't strange enough, it was clear they were all following Hiccup.

The entire group had been strangely quiet. He had hoped that the teens might act a bit more serious as they started dragon training, but he hadn't expected much. He'd expected Snotlout and the twins at least to be their usual loud selves, but all six of them had been silent as they gathered around the Gronkle's cage…

… And wasn't that strange, that they somehow knew which pen to go to. He supposed they could have asked an older Viking which dragon Gobber was most likely to start with, but how did they know which cage held the Gronkle? No one was allowed in the arena until they started dragon training, and the kind of dragon held in each cage changed as easily as blood was spilt.

They'd been angry. That much was obvious. Fists clenched, teeth grinding, glaring at the world kind of angry. Gobber hadn't thought much of it at the time, they were about to learn how to kill their tribe's worst enemies after all, but now that he thought back on it Gobber could see the wrongness. When Vikings were angry, they yelled and shouted and beat things up. If they didn't have a convenient target to kill, they would pace like a caged animal, sling insults or weapons amongst each other, or break their knuckles against a handy boulder.

Their anger had been cold. It was the kind of anger he usually only saw in the eyes of war veterans, Vikings that had fought against things worse than dragons alone. It was the kind of anger he saw in Gothi when she scribbled about a cowardly blockade in her youth that prevented Berk from getting medical supplies, in Phlegma when she spoke of how her young son was killed by pirates, in Stoick when he recounted the treachery of Drago Bludvist. It made no sense for that cold anger to be present in the eyes of a bunch of teenagers who'd been shielded from anything worse than the occasional dragon raid. Oddly enough, the trainees had actually settled down once the dragons…

Gobber took a gulp of ale and shook his head before his mind could go too far down _that_ rabbit hole. He needed to think things through before he got too drunk to remember his own name.

None of the teens had shown the proper emotion at the prospect of proving their worth against a Nightmare in front of the village. If anything, they'd seemed upset. In fact the Jorgenson boy looked almost sick…

Gobber choked on his ale. The boy had been upset about killing the _Monstrous Nightmare_, the same dragon he'd ended up riding out of the arena, _before Hiccup had proved it could be trained!_ That meant that he'd known ahead of time that he'd be riding a dragon, and had already picked his out. In fact, he'd already had a name for the beast while being eaten and thrown in the air. And if Hiccup actually told _that_ loudmouth a secret, then chances are they all knew.

The whole thing was staged!

It was all planned out from the moment he let the Gronkle free! Snotlout had been there to slow him down as soon as he realized Hiccup was in danger. Once he got rid of him, Fishlegs had been there to stop him again. Then Astrid, who Gobber had believed to be a rather sensible lass, had stepped in. They had all had arguments, perfectly timed with the situation, almost scripted. The Ingerman lad, who Gobber knew as rather book-obsessed and a bit of a coward, had been far to fast to go up to the beast if the whole thing was unexpected.

Then, before Gobber could recover from the shock of it, the Nightmare had been set loose. The twins had disappeared earlier, but they were in the perfect place to carry out that fiasco. Now that he thought about it, none of the teens had been worried when the dragon tried to eat Spitelout's idiot son. If anything, they'd been exasperated, annoyed at worst. He'd been too stunned to notice at the time, but looking back it was beyond obvious the boy had been lying.

His attention was then immediately diverted from what he now suspected was the weak link in their plan. The Hoffersons' daughter, who he'd pegged as the most likely to succeed in dragon training, had walked up to the Nadder as confident as a bear fishing in a shallow pool. She'd made perfect arguments in the dragon's favor, and spoke of its dangers with respect and admiration.

The twins and the Zippleback had pulled his attention away from Astrid, though he had been careful not to show her beastie his back. He wondered if their destructiveness was another weak point in the plan. Astrid was certainly more logical, and more credible to boot. The twins, as always, were more interested in attacking each other than anything else.

Gobber ran over that though again. There was something wrong with it. Then he realized he was completely focused on the _twins'_ chaos. The dragon hadn't done anything particularly terrible after the first explosion. In fact, it had stopped the twins from getting more violent. The twins who instantly stopped fighting at a few words from Hiccup, when their own mother was incapable of controlling them for more than five minutes.

That was another thing. His apprentice wasn't acting like the apprentice he knew. None of the teens were acting like they were supposed to, but he knew Hiccup best. The boy in the arena had been too confident, too commanding. When the boy had had his hand on the Gronkle's snout he'd sounded so much like Stoick it'd broken Gobber out of his protective rage.

Not only that, but the others had listened. They'd clearly been following Hiccup when they came into the arena. The Ingerman boy immediately moved to the Gronkle at Hiccup's call. The twins had stopped arguing on his word, and Gobber couldn't help but wonder if they'd started on his orders as well. Gobber had been distracted long enough for him to grab the Terrible Terror after all.

And what was going on between his apprentice and Astrid? As far as he knew, Hiccup wasn't even able to talk to her in complete sentences. If he didn't know better, he would have said the two were flirting in the arena!

Whatever was going on, Gobber would have answers.

After he had a few more drinks.


End file.
